Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Brewers and catcher Yasmani Grandal have agreed on a one-year deal, pending a physical. Per Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, Grandal will earn a salary of $18.25 million.
Grandal, 30, rejected the Dodgers’ $17.9 million qualifying offer in November. The Dodgers will receive a compensatory draft pick after Competitive Balance Round B. The Brewers will give up their third-highest selection in this year’s upcoming draft.
This past season, Grandal hit .241/.349/.466 with 24 home runs and 68 RBI in 518 plate appearances. He had a forgettable postseason, however, playing subpar defense with a .139 average across 34 trips to the plate. Grandal will jump ahead of Manny Piña on the Brewers’ depth chart.
It is surprising that, after roughly three months, Grandal was only able to procure an extra $350,000 above the qualifying offer. Grandal reportedly turned down a four-year, $60 million offer from the Mets earlier this offseason as well. According to FanGraphs, the only catchers more valuable than Grandal, going by Wins Above Replacement, over the last three years are J.T Realmuto and Buster Posey. But given that roughly a third of the league isn’t actively trying to win, Grandal’s market was not nearly as robust as it should have been. Add yet another data point for the union ahead of the December 1, 2021 termination date of the current collective bargaining agreement.
